News from the IFF Referee Committee Meeting

The IFF Referee Committee held its first meeting of the year on the 7th – 8th February 2009 in Vantaa, Finland. During the meeting the RC discussed the Referee nomination process and what education material is needed for referees as well as the importance of Material checking within the IFF Member Associations.

Below you will find more topics that were discussed during the meeting.

The Referee nomination process

The RC will use a ranking system for referees and a ranking system of the IFF tournaments, so that the nomination process will be more efficient. These ranking systems are to be used during this year and are to be evaluated next year.

Referee education material

The RC will work on three types of materials:

a manual for basic referee education, aimed at referees that are starting up their national referee career in different countries.
guidelines for new international referees, with the tasks and expectations for an international referee, to help them to prepare and to get started.
an education folder for the international referees, which will be used in observing and educating the referees. The folder with the education will be given to all international referees in the upcoming years.

Material checking

The RC noticed that the material should be checked more carefully during matches in the IFF member associations. The RC urges the referees of the member associations to check especially the mixed shafts and blades.

According to the material regulations both the shaft and the blade should be from the same brand. Mixing shafts and blades would lead to unapproved sticks. In case of an accident or injury, this might lead to expensive liability claims for clubs and associations.

Information of international matches and nomination of referees

The RC urges all associations to send the information form for international matches and nomination of referees -form at latest 60 days in advance, so that the RC has enough time to nominate the referees.